Gold Aureus of Hadrian, 7.17 g.
Title
Gold Aureus of Hadrian, 7.17 g.
Creator
Hadrian
Date
128-137 CE
Description
Obverse: Draped and diademed bust of Sabina facing right.; SABINA AVGVSTA HADRIANI AVG(VSTI) P(ATER) P(ATRIAE): Sabina Augusta, wife of Hadrian Augustus, father of the country.
Reverse: Concordia seated facing left, extending patera in right hand and leaning left elbow on figure of Spes; CONCORDIA AVG(VSTA): Concordia Augusta.
Style/Period: Roman Empire
In 101 CE Hadrian married Vibia Sabina, a great-niece of Trajan, probably an indication that he was intended as Trajan's heir. Late sources report that her marriage to Hadrian was very unhappy, but little is certainly known of her life. She was made Augusta in 128 CE and coins were struck with her portrait and title. Sabina died in 136 or 137 CE and was deified by Hadrian. Posthumous coins were also issued in her honor.
Sabina differs from most women of the Flavian and Trajanic period in her very simple hair, which is merely pulled back and held in a loose queue. She wears the diadem that accompanies the title Augusta.
The reverse depicts the personification of harmony and concord, Concordia, who was worshiped as a goddess and who was a very popular coin type. She has many attributes; here she is depicted with the patera or offering bowl and with a small statue of Spes, the personification of hope.
-- Kelly Swett Riordan, LU '93
Bibliography: H. Mattingly and E.A. Sydenham, The Roman Imperial Coinage II: Vespasian to Hadrian (London 1926) 398.
Sabina differs from most women of the Flavian and Trajanic period in her very simple hair, which is merely pulled back and held in a loose queue. She wears the diadem that accompanies the title Augusta.
The reverse depicts the personification of harmony and concord, Concordia, who was worshiped as a goddess and who was a very popular coin type. She has many attributes; here she is depicted with the patera or offering bowl and with a small statue of Spes, the personification of hope.
-- Kelly Swett Riordan, LU '93
Bibliography: H. Mattingly and E.A. Sydenham, The Roman Imperial Coinage II: Vespasian to Hadrian (London 1926) 398.
Source
Former collection of Ottilia Buerger. Purchased from Abner Kreisberg, 1961.
Identifier
91.168
Rights
Wriston Art Center Galleries, Lawrence University, Appleton, WI,wriston-gallery@lawrence.edu,920-832-6890
Subject
Roman, Empire, Sabina, Concordia, patera, Spes, Hadrian
Files
Citation
Hadrian, “Gold Aureus of Hadrian, 7.17 g.,” Lawrence University Classics Department & Ottilia Buerger Coin Collections, accessed November 5, 2026, https://thor.lawrence.edu/omeka/buerger/items/show/280.